Daisy found herself in the halls of a Star Shrine. Aquamarine floors speckled with astral white figures stretched along the hall ahead and behind her. Luminous pillars lit up the temple against the vast ocean of the night sky around her. It was breathtaking, but Daisy reminded herself that none of this was real.

The black splotches of Subspace were nowhere to be seen. Daisy was not sure how things worked here, but it seemed she was safe for the moment. Looking down, she realized she was back in her orange dress and in her adult body. That was a relief, but it did not change the fact she needed to find Waluigi and Wanda before darkness caught up with her.

Her footsteps echoed as she explored the holy star sanctum. Was there even anyone here to find? Maybe Wanda. She could not imagine Waluigi being caught dead in a place like this. She continued wandering until she heard shouting up ahead.

"Do you question the will of the Stars?!"

Daisy crept toward the ruckus. She was not sure yet if she wanted to barge in on an argument but needed to see what was going on. This led her into a library. She hid among the rows of shelves and tried to catch a glimpse of the drama.

"I don't want to!" a younger voice said.

Daisy peeked through a gap in the shelves and spotted that little boy in butler clothes. Waluigi was gangly even as a kid, and Daisy guessed that puberty only exaggerated that aspect of him.

"You don't want to?!" an older voice boomed. "This is the will of the Stars!"

"I just…" Waluigi said, "if I am going to devote my life to this, I want to understand."

"It is not our place to understand," the grown man said. "It is our privilege to serve, and you dishonor that tradition by indulging in such shameful doubt."

Waluigi looked down, his face tightening. The shadow of his father hung over him. A quiet fury boiled in his eyes.

"…The Stars choose who gets to be special. But they make mistakes. History makes that clear. Knowing that, why let them choose? Why can't it just be anyone? How are we supposed to trust them?"

The commander struck his son across the face.

"You will not disgrace our family like this, do you hear me?! You and I are mere threads in a tapestry. Cornerstones of something greater. You are nothing on your own. There is no greater vanity, no greater sin, than to reject the role to which you are gifted."

Waluigi said nothing. Daisy itched to do something but chose to wait. It was a gamble to reveal herself while this shade of the commander was watching. She did not want Subspace to find them.

"If you are finished acting like a child," the commander said. "I must attend to my duties. You will return to your studies and cease with these selfish musings. Understood?"

Waluigi held his cheek, frozen in place with his head hung.

"…Yes, father."

"Count this among your lessons." He turned to leave, his boots echoing through the shrine. "I will expect a report of all you have learned upon my return."

Daisy waited until she was sure the commander was gone, but Waluigi was nowhere to be seen when she stepped out from her hiding spot. She searched the library and found him hunched over a desk piled up with books and notes in a corner. He was so tense and focused on his studies that he did not even look up as Daisy approached.

"Psst! Hey!" she said. "Waluigi!"

"Pardon me?" he said, startled.

This was her first look at him up close. He was cute, in a nerdy sort of way. What was up with the horn-rimmed glasses? Did he switch to contacts when he got older or what? She tried not to laugh at his ascot. He looked more like his dad than himself.

"Do I know you?" he said.

The question should not have stung as much as it did. "Don't you recognize me?"

There was a blank look in his eyes as he seemed to search his memories for her. Daisy grumbled to herself. She knew it was because of Subspace messing with his memories but it still hurt to feel like a nobody even among friends.

"Hi, I'm Daisy," she said. "This will sound weird, but we need to leave right now, okay?"

"Leave?" His eyes darked and an anxious mix of emotions flashed across his face. "No. …no. I… You must have me confused with someone else. I have a very common name after all. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do here. I'm right where I need to be."

Daisy pulled the textbook out of his hands. "Shut up and listen. You're in Subspace right now and this is all an illusion. We need to find Wanda and get out of here before that creepy black stuff finds us!"

He scoffed. "Is this some sort of joke? I would need to be dreaming to be in Subspace, and that would be harmless. And I would hardly call this a nightmare!"

Daisy looked around, wondering how much time she had left to convince this blockhead and escape.

"Look, it's clear you got some daddy issues. I'm in no position to judge. I just clawed my way out of a puppet show of my own family trauma and now I'm wondering if I should schedule some therapy between tournaments. Whatever. The point is we're not dreaming. We're physically in Subspace. You already explained this to me and I really don't want to stick around long enough to trade places again."

Waluigi glared at her with suspicion. That made Daisy smile. It was a glimpse of the Waluigi she knew.

"Father put you up to this, didn't he? He's already testing my resolve by tempting me to leave." He grabbed his book back and resumed studying. "Go tell him I'm not stupid enough to fall for the same trick again. I don't have time to be distracted by you."

Daisy tapped her foot, growing annoyed. She considering hauling him over her shoulder but knew finding Wanda would be way easier if she did not have to fight Waluigi every step of the way. She looked over the table for an idea and noticed the books were familiar: Political theory, history, science, court etiquette, etc. It was weird to see someone like Waluigi studying star doctrine, but it made sense given how stuck his dad was on the topic.

"What was that argument about?" Daisy said. "Your dad wants you to read books to help the Stars out?"

A bitter chuckle escaped from his lips. "Father says I belong to the Star Children. I need to make myself worthy to act as their servant. They're born special, unlike you, me, and the billions of other regular people on this world. The best I can hope for is the privilege of playing advisor to them."

"The Star Children?" Daisy said. "You're talking about Mario and Peach and Luigi and—"

"And Bowser," Waluigi said. "He's not even grown yet and it's obvious to anyone paying attention he'll be a tyrant. If the Stars choose to make him special, how am I supposed to trust the other six? And for that matter, how am I supposed to trust the judgment of the Stars?"

"You have a point," she admitted. Most of the rest turned out alright, but Wario rode the line pretty hard. "I guess I don't worry about that. I never put much stock in what the Stars think."

Waluigi smirked. "Careful. This is not the place to blaspheme."

"You started it!" she said. "Anyway, if 'regular' people like you and me can beat those Star Brats at stuff, who's to say they're even that special?"

He sighed, turning back to his work. "Yeah, if only. I'm nothing compared to them. Just another thread in the tapestry."

Daisy slammed his book shut. "Don't give me that drivel!" She leaned over and stared him in the eye. "You've beaten them before and so have I. Tournaments, parties, races, all of it. You just need to remember!"

Waluigi's breathing grew heavy as their eyes locked. Daisy felt a flush of embarrassment about looming over this kid, but it was too late to back down. She stood her ground and it paid off. Waluigi's eyes darted around as the gears in his head started to turn.

"Wah," he said and his face turned beet red. "Ugh. Why'd I need you to snap me out of it?"

"I don't know!" Daisy said. "This is my first time here, what's your excuse?"

He stood up, shaking off his delirium and assuming the impish posture his body needed to grow back into. "Let's get out of here before we get caught."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that."

Daisy spun to see Commander Reverie standing in the doorway. He pushed up his sunglasses and strode towards them, hands held behind his back, boots clicking against the floor.

"I should be disappointed," he said, "But a father can endure only so much before he must face the truth. There is nothing I can do to salvage a failure like you."

"Drop the act," Waluigi said. "I know what you are."

The commander shrugged, and his face began to melt. His features slopped off to reveal a black and white mask with a crescent smile under the false flesh.

"Oh, yuck!" Daisy said. "What IS this thing?"

"The Will of Spacespace," Waluigi said. "The Chaos Heart. It controls this part of the Dream World and it's what's been toying with us."

Hysterical laughter echoed through the whole Star Shrine. More masks appeared out of thin air, floating in the air around Daisy and Waluigi. Shy Guy masks, tweeter masks, bird masks, snifit masks, and phanto masks. All of them were watching. Through the window outside, Daisy saw the stars wink out one by one as the sky filled with a solid black.

"It is unfortunate," the masked figure said. "We were looking forward to wringing more fun out of the two of you. But it looks like you are more trouble than you are worth."

"You're the reason Wart got out, aren't you?!" Waluigi said as the masks spun around them. "You let him escape!"

"Oh! Is he causing trouble upstairs?" The voice was coming from everywhere now. "That's nice to hear. Yes. We did lend that crooning toad a sliver of our power. If all goes according to plan, soon we should have even more toys to play with."

Daisy cracked her knuckles, trying to keep an eye on all the masks. "Can we trounce this thing, or will that just get us mind wiped again?"

All of Subspace vibrated with laughter. "Oh, we're playing for keeps this time, princess."

"It's too powerful!" Waluigi said. "We need to focus on getting out of here!"

Red and white phanto masks shot towards them, screaming with wicked laughter. Daisy rolled out of the way and dodged as another one sailed toward her. Tendrils of black spread into the room from the windows, closing in around them.

"Ah ha ha ha!" Subspace cackled. "Good luck with that!"

"This way!" Waluigi pointed towards the door. He weaved around swooping masks and Daisy smashed a chair over tweeter mask in the way. They charged out into the hall with darkness hot on their heels.

"Yes! One last chase before we snuff you out!" Subspace bellowed. "What a thrill!"

Daisy raced down the halls of the Star Shrine alongside Waluigi.

"Do you know where we're going?!" Daisy said, ducking to avoid a swooping mask.

"Wahh! We need to find the edge of my memory!" Waluigi said, "…the problem is I've been all over this place! I don't know where we can go!"

They stumbled to a halt as they saw shadows flooding towards them down the hall from the other direction. Daisy swiveled to find anywhere to run. Both ends of the hall were filling up with black leaving only the windows and balconies looking out into a starless sky. The temple was high up in the mountains with churning clouds obscuring the world below.

"I think I know where you haven't been!" she said.

"Where wou—"

Daisy hoisted the mini-Waluigi onto her shoulder and climbed over the balcony railing. She dove off the edge before Subspace reached them and fell into the clouds below.

"Waaaaahhhh!" Waluigi screamed, now full-sized as they popped out the other end of the clouds and plummeted into daylight.

They hurtled toward Earth faster and faster, but Daisy kept a grip on Waluigi as the world rushed up to meet them.

Just before they hit the rock-hard ground, Daisy made sure to stop their momentum with a ground pound. Piece of cake.

"Ugh," Waluigi said, sprawled out on the dirt. "Good work. But also never do that again."

Daisy dusted herself off and looked around to see what their dumb new nightmare scenario was. They were in some sort of cemetery. Headstones sat over open graves and tombs dotted the hilltops. Green ghosts wafted through the air and, to Daisy's surprise, there was a big festive banner hung up wishing onlookers a "Happy Halloween!"

"Uh, are we in the right place?" she said.

"Yes! Look!" Waluigi pointed. "There she is!"

Wanda was sitting on a hilltop, trembling, as a pack of green ghosts danced around and went "ooOoooOOO" at her.

"Get out of here!" Waluigi said, swatting at the ghosts and chasing them off. "Shoo!"

Daisy knelt next to Wanda and nudged her in the shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

"Daisy?! Is it really you?!"

"Yeah. Hey, fun fact for you. We're in Subspace right now and this place is all in your head."

"Oh!" Wanda said. "Phew! THAT'S a relief! I was worried this was real life!"

"Huh," Daisy said. Well, that was relatively painless. She looked around at the dorky cartoon graveyard and thought again about signing up for therapy.

"Why is this your nightmare?" Waluigi said.

"Don't make fun of me!" Wanda said. "Ghosts are scary, okay?!"

All at once the sky darkened and a roll of thunder rumbled in the distance. A drizzle of black rain fell from the sky, spotting the surrounding terrain. Skeletal drybone koopas clawed their way out of open graves, clattering, as veins of black spread across the ground.

"Oh, hey! That's pretty scary too!" Wanda said.

"Uh yeah," Daisy said, growing nervous. "Anyway, you think you could wake up so we can get out of here?"

"Okay, sure. No problem."

Wanda closed her eyes and concentrated. There was a spark of color over her head as she strained to open the portal home. All around, dry bones shambled towards them. Waluigi grabbed a shovel and smashed the nearest undead monstrosity into shards.

"Could you maybe hurry it up?!" Waluigi said. "Pretty sure this is our last chance!"

"Sorry!" Wanda said, straining even harder. "I'm a heavy sleeper! Give me a second!"

The rain picked up and the clouds opened. Phanto masks poured down from above, swarming like a plague of insects. The spreading back of Subspace coiled around their little hill like a viper. Daisy and Waluigi kept the drybones at bay but they just kept coming.

"Wanda!" Daisy said. "Please!"

"I'm up! I'm up!"

The swirling tie-dye dream portal burst open. Daisy and Waluigi were lifted off the ground and sucked inside just as the world was swallowed out from under their feet. Like the lurch of a bullet train, Daisy felt herself rising back into the waking world.